UPCOMING EVENTS

Predictive analytics startup Sociocast has changed course on its main product offering, switching its focus from a developer-targeted prediction API to a new website personalization app that almost any business owner can use.

When we last caught up with Sociocast in March, CEO Albert Azout told us the company was switching its focus to make its prediction API available to numerous small and medium-sized businesses instead of a handful of enterprises. Today’s switch-up follows that same idea, but this takes it a bit further by instead offering a simple website application anyone can use rather than a more complicated API that just developers could use.

“This is only a pivot in who we’re going after,” Azout told VentureBeat. “We wanted to attract a wider audience.”

Essentially, Sociocast’s new “Personalization Platform” provides a simple way for site managers to have the site better customized for any person who comes to the site. Using tracking cookies, identifying referral sites, and site analytics, the personalization app can make the site better tailored for any audience. For example, if I’ve visiting a men’s clothing site before and bought something there, Sociocast can suggest how to personalize the site for someone like me.

“Personalization is a big market, and sometimes it’s overly complicated,” Azout said. “A lot of times a site can look great but they don’t know how to optimize it for people coming to the site.”

Sociocast launched the new Personalization Platform in beta a few weeks ago. Since that time, it claims that more than 120 companies have already signed up. Initial launch partners include CloudFlare, SEOshop, and BrightTag. As for cost, the new app starts at $39 per month for sites with 10,000 monthly visitors and goes all the way up to $1,999 per month if you have 5 million monthly visitors.

It should also be noted that Sociocast isn’t abandoning the developers that started using its API earlier this year, and Azout says the API still works and helps power the Personalization Platform.

The New York-based Sociocast was founded in 2010 and has attracted about $6 million in funding to date. Additional customers include Quicken Loans and Cigna Health.